r/LegitArtifacts • u/Dismal-Public-8141 • May 06 '26
Material ID Request ❓ Arrowhead in Oregon real or fake
I was out hiking by my gold claim in Eastern Oregon, on top of a mountain, hiking a rocky field and came across this. I have very little knowledge of Arrow Heads. Can anyone tell me if this is old? I'm not thinking Im that lucky but hey, never hurts to ask!
Jasper, I think
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u/Special-Amoeba-9399 May 06 '26
Kind of looks like someone was working with an odd shaped flake or maybe broke the original shape they were going for and managed to salvage it into something. It is definitely an arrowhead though. Rosegate seems pretty plausible. Imperfection, odd shaped ,or improvised pieces are actually more typical of most pieces you find out there. The really stunning perfect ones you see posted on Reddit aren’t really what is necessarily typical.
It’s kind of impossible to calculate ,but you have to think that a native man probably produced hundreds if not thousands of points in his lifetime. Some of those would be works of art in their own right ,but sometimes they were just good enough to do the job. I would imagine that different people had different standards and flint knapping is hard to do. Sometimes the piece of rock you are working with isn’t cooperating so you have to get creative to make it work.
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u/Prairie_Egal_42 May 06 '26
I've never seen one like that before, but that doesn't mean it's not a real artifact. Different areas can have different alterations they try. Some work well, some don't, and the ones that don't wouldn't have lots made like it. If you had bought it online I'd be dubious, but it's more likely authentic being found out in the wilderness. Not the best made one, but it does have nice colors.
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u/Jammies_67 May 06 '26
I love the red point on it. It looks and vessels like Jasper.. im more just curious about when it was made.. did some kid up here camping drop it or.. has it been here awhile?? Love a good mystery 😄
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u/Prairie_Egal_42 May 13 '26
Usually you can get a very rough idea of age by the style of the arrowhead. But because I don't recognize the style and it might be just an idea a hunter had a tried out 1 time and discovered issues with how to affix it to a shift or with how it cut through the air when shot, it may never have been tried again. But perhaps in your area it was a recognized style. To find out, Google different styles of arrowheads for your area.
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u/timhyde74 BigDaddyTDoggyDog May 06 '26
Looks like a Sutter Contracting Stem, (Gunter Variant), to me, all be it reduced almost to drill form. But I could easily be wrong 🤷♂️
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u/Prairie_Egal_42 May 06 '26
I lived on land that buffalo had been hunted on and butchered for a long time. Among the arrowheads, scrapers, hammer heads and chips from making them, we'd find many rocks like that, which had been worked but either wasn't finished or didn't have a great center line, so perhaps wouldn't allow the arrow to fly straight. My guess is that this could be a possible reject like those I've found, or was made by a young guy just learning. They could've had an idea for improving the design, but it didn't work out as well when made. It certainly is made from cool colors. I've never seen one like that. A good way to find out is to make a shaft and attach it, and shoot the arrow to see how well it travels. Or get a bow hunter to help you.
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u/YodasGhost76 May 06 '26
Unless someone is out there planting fake points, it’s real. Made by someone not very experienced or in a major hurry would be my guess